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Vascular Plants of California
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Nolina
BEARGRASS

Higher Taxonomy
Family: RuscaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: BUTCHER'S-BROOM FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb to shrub, rhizomed or not. Stem: leafy or scapose. Leaf: 2--15, basal or cauline, cauline clasping or sheathing, petioled [or reduced to scales, with short branches flattened, green, appearing leaf-like]. Inflorescence: terminal or axillary, panicle or raceme. Flower: unisexual or bisexual, generally white (+- pink); perianth parts 4 or 6, fused or not, erect, nodding or pendent; stamens (4)6, +- fused to perianth, anthers attached near base; ovary superior, chambers 2--3, style 1, stigma +- 3-lobed. Fruit: berry, spheric, red, orange-red, or blue-black, or capsule, papery. Seed: 1--12.
Genera In Family: 26 genera, 475 species: northern hemisphere, South Africa, northern Australia; species in several genera cultivated as ornamental, house pls. Note: Smilacina moved to Maianthemum.
eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Nolina
Stem: thick, woody or +- below ground. Leaf: rosettes 6--20 dm, stiff, sword-like, base much expanded, white, fleshy. Inflorescence: panicle or raceme-like, scapose, bracted, < 4 m. Flower: perianth parts 6 in 2 petal-like whorls, < 6 mm, +- white; stamens 6, filaments slender; pistil reduced in staminate flowers, pistillate flowers with staminodes; ovary superior, 3-chambered, style and 3 stigmas short, ovules 2 per chamber. Fruit: capsule, papery. Seed: 1--3 per fruit, ovoid.
Species In Genus: +- 30 species: southern United States, Mexico. Etymology: (P.C. Nolin, French agriculturist, b. 1717) Note: Leaf widths taken just above expanded leaf base.
Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal & James C. Dice
Reference: Hess 2003 FNANM 26:415--421
Unabridged Reference: Munz & Roos 1950 Aliso 2:217--238
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Key to Nolina

Previous taxon: Maianthemum stellatum
Next taxon: Nolina bigelovii

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Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal & James C. Dice 2012, Nolina, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=8943, accessed on April 18, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.